Social Media Public Comment Policy

As a public entity, the City of Shaker Heights must abide by certain standards to serve all its constituents in a civil and unbiased manner.

Comments containing any of the following inappropriate forms of content shall not be permitted on City of Shaker Heights social media sites and are subject to removal and/or restriction:

• Obscene, violent, or pornographic content and/or language
• Comments that promote, foster or perpetuate illegal discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, ancestry, disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression.
• Defamatory attacks
• Threats to any person or organization
• Solicitation of commerce, including but not limited to advertising of any business or product for sale. This does not apply to social media sites designed by the City to promote Shaker businesses
• Comments in violation of any federal, state or local law
• Comments in violation of the social media site's terms and policies
• Encouragement of illegal activity
• Information that may tend to compromise the safety or security of the public or public systems
• Content that knowingly violates a legal ownership interest, such as a copyright, of any party
• Content that is totally unrelated to the City government and/or its operations, policies, laws, regulations, procedures, or activities.

A comment posted by a member of the public on any City of Shaker Heights social media site is the opinion of the commentator or poster only, and does not imply endorsement of, or agreement by, the City of Shaker Heights, nor do such comments necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of the City of Shaker Heights.

Violation of the Policy

The City of Shaker Heights reserves the right to block access to City of Shaker Heights social media sites for any individual who violates the City of Shaker Heights Social Media Policy, at any time and without prior notice.

All comments posted to any City of Shaker Heights social media sites are bound by that site's regulations (or similar policies), and the City of Shaker Heights reserves the right to report any violation of those policies to that site administration with the intent of the site taking appropriate and reasonable responsive action.

The City reserves the right to hide or delete comments that violate this policy.